Brave Swords
by SefiaKikuri
Summary: [Brave frontier in SAO plot!] In Year 2022, mankind finally brought a true virtual world into existence. And 10000 peoples' destinies are about to change, in an unexpected way… Will they manage to make it out alive?
1. Chapter 1:The Beginning

In Year 2022, mankind finally brought a true virtual world into existence. And 10000 people's' destinies are about to change, in an unexpected way…

"And now we begin! It's this week's MMO stream. For starters, we had you watch the PV. Looks like this is from last week's launch." A cheery voice announced through the television. "What were all these people lining up for? Sword Art Online! Those in front said that they started waiting three days prior to the release. Unbelievable! No, I should say it's natural for true gamers!" A boy with fiery red hair sat on his chair, browsing through a gaming e-magazine as he listened to the broadcast.

"Onii-tan! I'll be going for club practice!" a girl shouted as she ran off. Shutting the television and book, the boy headed for his very own Nervegear. Once plugging in the charger, he placed the machine onto his head. Smiling slightly, he closed his eyes and muttered the command, "Link Start!" Instantly, the machine powered on and directed him into a virtual login. After running scans, a screen showed "You have character data from a beta test. Would you like to load it?" After clicking "Yes", a welcome message popped out and he was instantly directed to a new different world. After blinking a few times, he smiled and looked up at the birds flying past the blue sky. "I'm back to this world!"

"Hey! Vargas! I've been waiting!" An energetic shouted, causing everyone to stare towards the direction of a yellow-haired boy, electricity sparking around him as he ran towards Vargas.

"A-as excited as usual eh, Eze?" Vargas chucked, a drop of sweat falling down as he was jumped on by Eze and thus Eze received a playful punch in the stomach. Behind the hyperactive Electric boy was a much calmer Earth typed one.

"Eze, I thought I told you to stop jumping on others."

"But I can't help it! Today is the day of the actual game, after all! Finally! After all those beta work! Of course I'll be excited! Aren't you excited, Lance? I mean, who's not happy?" Eze jumped up and down, waving madly.

Lance said nothing and just sighed. Holding his beloved Drevas in his hands like always, he pulled Eze back and muttered something into his ear then dragged him off.

"Well I see someone finally got control of that hyper-active punk." said a voice from behind.  
"There you are, Selena. It's five minutes to the official launch, isn't it?" He smiled as the water-typed girl spawned and used her hand to block Eze who was charging furiously at her. Next came Atro, who got punched in the face due to Eze mistaking his gender. Again. Magress was last, maybe just one second late, as many players started spawning in.

The six friends then headed over to kill some mobs with the weapons they acquired at high levels of dungeons when they played the beta version of the game. With their levels of skill from before, they cleared the mobs with efficiency and acquired tons of experience. Just when they thought it was like the first day of the beta, where they would log out in the evening, all of them realised that the logout button disappeared.

"Maybe it's a bug…" Atro groaned. "Let's report it to the central of the town."

When they gathered there they realised that there was a large crowd already. Everyone was complaining and groaning that they needed to attend to other matters. Suddenly, a huge figure appeared.

"Greetings, everyone. Thank you for purchasing Sword Art Online. You must have realised that the log-out butt on was disabled. This is not a bug. I repeat, this was intentionally done. From now on, you will no longer be able to respawn. If you die in this game, you will be erased permanently from the Earth. The only way to get out of here is to clear all the 100 levels of the game. If anyone removes your nervegear, a high shockwave will be emitted and will destroy your brains. There have already been 27 death cases. My warnings have spreaded virally. Good luck, everyone, I have given you all a present. Please check your inventories."

Soon, everyone was doing as told, confused and shocked at the sudden turn of events. What they saw as a mirror. Once they looked into it, they instantly got turned into their real-life appearances. There was a gigantic rampage and everyone screamed and shouted in panic. The six friends gathered, recovered from their shock and all knew what to do. When the other players would clear all the mobs and take all the limited experience away from the starting town, they would go to the other towns and clear the harder mobs to get extra experiences. Then they could have a headstart in clearing the dungeons.

News spread fast. Every single party who tried to kill the boss of the first level dungeon failed and many died. So all the players all gathered together to try and discuss their strategies. Of course, the six friends were there, accompanying each other almost all the time. There were also many other players like Shida, who insisted he only went for good research objects, Logan, his accompanice, Kikuri, who loves bloodshed, her rival Sefia, Falma and Grafl, the inseparable buddies, Loch, Dean, Edea and Lorand, the four strong and wise players, Tia, with her friend a deer, Maxwell, floating on her globe, Kanon, following her. Cardes was dragging her mutated monsters on her back and Tora was close behind her. Next came Taser, Feeva, Kira and Alpha. Then, more pulled in and a meeting was commenced.

"Everyone! We will use the strategies based on the attack patterns written by the kind souls who sacrificed themselves to give us this valuable information! Forward, everyone! Let's clear the game for everyone!" Sodis, a male in white armour shouted. Once rearing his horse, they all ran inside the dungeon. Everyone instantly ran in, except a girl who had a hood covering herself. Vargas saw her and walked towards her. Her username… Lava? Why was she so quiet? He instantly approached her…

Kikuri: Ahh... That about ends it

Sefia: CHAPTER ONE ENDSSSSSS!

Kikuri: Wow... So ooc...


	2. Chapter 2:Misunerstandings

**Sefia: Heyo! So we're back with chapter 2!**

 **Kikuri: And we appreciate the reviews a lot. Hehe… Please continue supporting us. (btw dun be mad at me sefia i edited a bit too much of yours)**

"Hey.. What are you doing alone?" Vargas called to the girl. There was no response. "Do you want to join me in a party?"

"You already have one, don't you?" She replied quietly, averting her eyes.

"W-well…" He glanced at Lance and Eze, who were going together and then the other three together, then he smiled. "We're splitting up for this."

"Fine then." She muttered. "... Thanks."

"Alright, everyone! Let's go, for the sake of everyone!" Sodis roared, and everyone charged into the dungeon.

At first, there was nothing. Everyone braced themselves for the incoming of the monster. For a few seconds, everything was quiet. Then, a huge growl came from nowhere, and the boss came. Ridiculously huge, it was the size of around ten players.

Instantly, everyone charged towards it, both excited and frightened. Each managed to slash it at least once, before its health dropped to half. It grabbed its sword and slashed it onto the floor twice. An 'x' appeared on the floor, and any player near it was blown away. Those unfortunately standing on it were cut, causing around eight deaths.

Those alive were staring blankly and shocked beyond words. Vargas glanced at his friends, who were all not injured, but had debuffs on them as they were smashed against the walls of the dungeon from the force of the wind. He and Lava were one of the fortunate few who managed to stay away from the Death X. However, some who developed flying skills, that was very expensive, like Kanon were unharmed as they took off into the air. Usually players would level their attack, defence, recovery, health, speed, stamina and other basic skills, but some decided to use their points to gain skills that needed rare scrolls and items to unlock.

With high speed, Falma dashed forward, slicing the boss faster than it can respond but he soon tired out and used his last bit of strength to run away for recovery before the boss could attack him. Then, Eze and Lance charged up, double-teaming with the highest accuracy and strength, defending and attacking for each other. Atro backed them up and Magress shielded everyone with his nearly invincible shield. Selena attacked the boss with grace and Vargas pierced his sword into the boss, the sword bursting into flames and making the monster scream in pain. Lava pierced at the boss's eyes, temporarily blinding it, before everyone withdrew and were replaced with another wave while they rested. Just at this moment, the boss's health hit 25%. With a loud roar, it slashed everyone and more people died. Luckily, Vargas and team managed to dodge.

Since Lava and Vargas are of the same element, they decided that if they attack together, it would boost the attack power greatly. They put their swords together, side by side. Chanting something, flames enveloped them and their swords. They charged towards the boss, while everyone else looked at them in awe. Eze nudged Lance and chucked, "Don't they make a great couple?"

Smacking Eze in the face, Lance told him to shut up with a straight face, then turned back to watch Vargas and Lava fight. With just a slash, Vargas and Lava burst the boss into flames, until the boss was 10%.

The boss instantly threw down its weapon again, and waved out a katana. The six friends who cleared this floor before gasped. The boss was different from the betaed one! Only high-levelled bosses wielded katanas!

"I'll finish it off!" Sodis shouted, only to cut into half by the boss's sudden wave of its extended weapon.

"Wha-" Lava gasped as her cloak was torn away from her body, though she was unharmed. Instantly, everyone charged forward and slashed the boss together, resulting in around two more casualties. Soon, the boss exploded and sparkles rained down.

Everyone stood there, and in a few seconds burst into loud cheers and celebration. A screen popped out in front of everyone, with the banner "CONGRATULATIONS!" and the xp gained, as well as the drops. Selena was more than happy that she received a high-quality dungeon weapon drop, Lexida.

Just when everyone was celebrating, Grybe shouted across the dungeon, "Hey! I bet you knew the boss's attack patterns! How did you get away from fighting with perfection? Now you cost Sodis' life! How are you going to pay us for his loss, BETA TESTER?"

Shocked, Vargas and team turned. Grybe continued, "Admit it, beta tester! You knew everything, yet you wanted to watch us die!"

Lava gasped and glanced at Vargas, who was clearly more than angry, as he was radiating flames. Suddenly, he burst into a sick laughter and gripped his sword tightly.

"A beta tester?" Vargas laughed and swung his sword to defend himself against Grybe's attack, breaking his canon. "Don't put me in the same category as those newbies. Majority of the 1000 beta players in SAO did not even know how to level up. Unlike us, We six have covered almost all of the levels in SAO, so we have more information than any sane information broker."

Grybe just gasped as the impact of the flames made him fall down hard. Standing up, Grybe swung his other canon at Vargas, only to be blocked by Selena.

"Don't try your luck when you can't even win against a girl." she growled, grabbing him by his collar. "Just to let you know, if you do not want to die here, back off." she then stood beside Vargas with Eze, Lance, Atro and Magress.

Everyone else gasped and whispered among themselves, and turned towards him, looking at them with disgust. Lava however, just stood there, her emotion impossible to read.

"...Let's go, guys." Vargas muttered to the other five. They then proceeded to put on their armour, walking past everyone. Lava ran towards Vargas, but he just smiled at her and said, "You're good. If a guild comes to invite you, don't deny their invite." With that, he walked off, his friends closely behind him.


End file.
